Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Tran Hong Ha has urged management agencies and localities to investigate the shocking revelation that 44% of people had to pay bribes to receive their legally-entitled land use right certificate or red book.

According to the 2015 Provincial Governance and Public Administration Performance Index or PAPI Report, up to 44% of respondents admitted that they had to pay bribes to get a land use right certificate in 2015, compared to just 24% in 2014.

Most of the respondents said that the red book-making procedures were still unreasonably complicated and very slow, while the levels of the fees are opaque. Many people have to wait for more than 100 days to get their red book, instead of the regulated time of only 15 days. Lots of apartments have been handed over to people, but without red books.

Red books in Vietnam

Following the PAPI 2015 report, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Tran Hong Ha set up a hotline available at 043.7957889 to receive public complaints about their red book process. He also instructed management agencies to co-operate with localities to inspect the information released by PAPI 2015 and early inform him of violations.

People can also send their complaints to the email of ministry’s General Department of Land Administration at cucksqlsdd@gmail.com.

Local newspapers recently published many articles about the complaints of people in Hanoi’s Me Tri Thuong urban area in Nam Tu Liem District revealing that they were forced to pay bribes of VND8 million to department of natural resources and environment officials to receive their legally-entitled land right use certificates.

The move of the newly-appointed minister has raised hopes that the issuing of red books will be streamlined after remaining a weeping sore in Vietnam for decades. Red book-related problems have been often featured high on the National Assembly’s agenda.

However, it remains to be seen what action will be taken against those who have been involved in blatant blackmail.

On April 18, the land registration office of Quy Nhon City in Binh Dinh Province published a letter via the provincial people’s committee to apologise for the slow issuance of red books for some local households. This is the first time an agency in Vietnam has actually made an apology for failing to carry out its legal obligations to issue land use certification.